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Tensions Flare in Flatbush Over Arrest of Vendors

Mike Reicher/The New York TimesFriends and family turned out to support a group of street vendors in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, who say that they had been harassed by the police.

Police officers arrested four immigrant street vendors last week in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, in the latest development in a six-month street drama that has included arrests, neighborhood complaints, tickets, summonses and even an alleged knife fight.

On Tuesday, vendors and their advocates staged a protest against what they call police harassment, while the Police Department defended its handling of the tense situation.

Police officers have been closely monitoring the stretch of pavement in front of the SUNY Downstate Medical Center since a chicken and rice vendor was charged with assaulting a competitor in mid-September. Their rival carts had been battling over prices for months. Two men were arrested in that case, and one of them, Hamdy Abdelraouf Akl, was again arrested on Thursday, this time charged with disorderly conduct.

Mike Reicher/The New York TimesHamdy Abdelraouf Akl was arrested on Thursday in front of the SUNY Downstate Medical Center. At a protest on Tuesday, he showed his vending licenses.

Mr. Akl, 37, from Egypt, said the police had singled him out unfairly, harassing and threatening him. “We serve the community,” he said. “Our vendors should follow the law, and we think the police officers should follow the law, too.”

The laws in play range from blocking pedestrian traffic to assault. Mixed in are parking violations and summonses for not displaying a vending permit.

Sean Basinski of the the Street Vendor Project, a nonprofit group that advocates for vendors, said that the police showed a complete lack of respect for the vendors. “They’re just finding any means of harassment that they can,” he said.

After the assault case in September, the police met with a group of the vendors to discuss crowding on the sidewalk, where they should park and how to get along, said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman. But it was to no avail, he said. “Their conduct did not change and they continued to fight amongst each other,” Mr. Browne said.

After that, the commanding officer of the 67th Precinct “ordered enforcement action” against the vendors, Mr. Browne said, in an effort to establish order on the sidewalk.

One vendor who was not in the original fight and was caught up in the post-fracas crackdown is Mohammad Altaf Hussain, 23, a halal food vendor from Bangladesh. When police officers told him to close his cart last month, he followed their direction, he said, and has been suffering since.

Mr. Hussain said that he had lost $20,000 and has had to skip payments on bills during the three weeks he has been closed. “I asked the sergeant, ‘Please, can I know why you close my business,’ ” said Mr. Hussain as he held up a citation that read “Vending in Restricted Area.”

The Street Vendor Project has depicted Mr. Hussain as an emblem for what it calls unjust treatment, pointing out that Clarkson Avenue, where he and the other vendors are situated, is not listed as one of the city’s prohibited vending streets.

Why Mr. Hussain was caught in the police crackdown is a little unclear, considering that some of the other vendors on the street have been mostly left alone. One vendor who sells hot roti, Ingrid Cummings, said that she followed the police orders and generally had no problems. “I’m not causing any trouble,” Ms. Cummings told a customer as she filled her chicken and spinach roti. “I guess that’s why they leave me alone.”

We’ve allowed illegalities to become the norm and now are reaping the ” rewards” of this laxity. Street vendors ought not be allowed to set up carts blocking streets or sidewalks nor in front of tax/rent-paying stores. The laws on immigration need to be strictly enforced and employers of illegals harshly punished. Failure to take these actions to protect society are creating a societal monster which will shortly overwhelm this country. Forewarned is forearmed!

I think the problem is that there are WAY too many street vendors to begin with. If I was a food shop owner, paying today’s high rents, I would be more than a bit upset at the proliferation of these vendors. And now they are at war with each other? Kick them off the streets and give the sidewalks back ot the people…

Not once did the article mention that these vendors were “illegal” – the word used was “immigrant” – please do not assume that these people who work hard to make a decent living are anything but that. And yes, street vendors are licensed, as you can see in the photo above of the man holding his license! Please check your prejudice at the door. These people work hard for the little money they make. As a second generation immigrant (Ivy League educated and yes, an American citizen) who came from humble roots, I respect these people.

It is pretty clear that they are being harassed because they are Muslims. But in general it would be a good idea to stop allowing ALL street vending in Manhattan. Personally I dislike the crowding of the sidewalks, the smells, the music that some of them play, etc. I never buy anything from street vendors regardless of their origin. The police should chase away all those vendors selling items other then food as well: watches, belts, cds and dvds. The cityhas become one big bazaar.

“Cops pick on certain ones” …”harassed because they are Muslims”..Article says that one of them was “a halal food vendor from BangladeshI”. did the author of the story whether he and others have green cards, work permits? Somebody call ICE please.!

Welcome to New York, pal. We have people from everywhere here, and we like it that way. At one time Italians, polish and Irish would have been a “wholly foreign culture”, but my grandparents lived here anyway. This is New York!

There’s nothing wrong with street vendors as long as they are properly licensed. Street vending no only provides services but also provides color to an ethinically diverse area. In this troubled instance, it seems that there is vendor inflation, where too many vendors are seeking too few customers. Were it otherwise there would not be the crowding and fighting for space. So, there needs to be a limiting of vendor licenses. Limits more in tune with the available space and customer base.

Nate: this country has always had “alien figures from a wholly foreign culture” – exceptive of course the native americans. I doubt you live in NYC, and if you do you must not venture outside too often, because you sound way too surprised.

I don’t think the NYPD is targeting these people because they’re muslim or immigrants. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t completely trust the police either, but it sounds like these vendors brought all this on themselves. Having vendors on the street is great because they offer cheap goods for those of us that can’t afford to shop at Dean and Deluca’s, but the NYPD can’t allow it to turn into a turf war.

nate@6- people in NYC have be asking “Just when, exactly, did our streets begin to fill with these alien figures from a wholly foreign culture?” since the early nineteenth century. Each new wave of immigration has caused established residents to feel that their community was under assault. So long as new immigrants want to work, as these vendors evidently do, the city stands to benefit from them. If they can’t make a living as vendors they’ll eventually find something else.

When did our nation begin to fill with figures from a wholly foreign culture? In the early 1600s, when Europeans began to establish colonies.

I find myself wondering – if the vendors were selling Mulligan Stew or Bubble & Sqeak, Welsh Pasties, Sauerbraten, would there be protests such as those posted above?

I live in Philadelphia, which also has its problems with vendors. And yes, many vendors are immigrants – and many are not. That the people in the photo are mostly not Caucasian in appearance does not make them either immigrants or illegal immigrants.

Is Mr. Akl, 37, from Egypt, an American citizen. Yes or no!
Is Hamdy Abdelraouf Akl an American citizen? Yes or no!
Is Mohammed Altaf Hussain from Bangladesh, an American citizen? Yes or no!
If they are immigrants by whose authority are they undertaking a trade?

That kid does not appear to be of Kindergarten age, so you might want to go easy on that one there George.

If I had kids, I’d try and send them to pre-school at the age of 3 or 4, but (1) not everyone can afford pre-school, and (2), it’s often only 3 or 4 half days a week, which leaves children plenty of time to attend protests with their parents.

Wow. I’m pretty shocked by the tone of the comments. If you read the article you would note that the vendors have been cited by police when they weren’t doing anything to merit a citation. The rights group isn’t whining about an unfair law.

New York has such a long, rich history of street vendors. My Jewish family got started that way in the last century and my Dutch family a couple hundred years earlier.

New York has always been “one big bazaar” of “foreign culture(s).” That’s what makes it great!

Joanna wrote:”Not once did the article mention that these vendors were “illegal” – the word used was “immigrant” – please do not assume that these people who work hard to make a decent living are anything but that.”
———–
On the contrary, the NYT NEVER identifies illegal aliens or illegal immigrants as such. Nor does it specify LEGAL immigrants. It uses the blanket term “immigrant” to include both, making the term basically meaningless. Heck, even people on non immigrant visas (students, H1-Bs, for example) are referred to as “immigrants” these days. The use of the word “immigrant” these days is to mean “non citizen”.

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